


Once a Pre-Med Went to Camp

by rushedwords



Series: Camp Enterprise [1]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Nicknames, Summer Camp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushedwords/pseuds/rushedwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where young (but legal) Jim & Bones are counselors at the same summer camp, but have never met before. Full of summer camp jargon and references inspired by my own experiences at summer camp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once a Pre-Med Went to Camp

Len believed summers should be filled with textbooks, miserable support staff jobs in hospitals, quiet mornings out on the river by his house, and evenings spent gazing at stars. They were really just a few weeks to gear back up for the academic year ahead.

For Jim, summers were filled with screaming Tarzan at the top of his lungs, sunburns, one-match fires, and golden arrows. More than that they were filled with memories, people who he would never forget, and a family he created for himself.

* * *

Camp Enterprise wasn’t the best summer camp in the region, but it wasn't the worse. It was a resident camp like any other on Long Lake run by a man named Christopher Pike who lived for summer. Although the campers came and went from summer to summer, they were a family for the time they were there, and Pike was sure this place could be their home too. Majority of the staff were former campers or returning counselors, which made it intimidating for new staff members the first couple of days.

And Leonard McCoy’s experience was no difference, but at least it was buffered by arriving a week early to go through lifeguard training with the waterfront director, Phillip Boyce. It also gave him a chance to get to know his fellow guard, Christine Chapel, who he would have to deal with all summer regardless of whether he liked her or not. Upon their first meeting and learning she was studying to become a nurse an immediate bond was made over a joke about a future where she would be the best nurse on his ward one day. And that was it.

Soon the rest of the staff started to arrive and it was out of the quiet Old Lodge and into the Educational Discovery Center for the all staff sleepover that would be staff training week.

When a bright-eyed young man (surely no more than nineteen) claimed the mattress next to him, Len knew he was going to be trouble. Up until that point he thought his biggest worry would be finding time to study for the MCATS while spending his whole summer with children, living in tents, and sleep deprived. It wasn’t how he planned to spend his summer.

Len had enjoyed going to camp as much as the next kid, but he was trying to be a doctor, damn it. He didn’t have time for waking up at 6 a.m. every morning for polar bears, dealing with the stomach pains from bad camp food, and the repetitive process of buddy checks twice every swim period. At the very least the lack of sleep he was promised this summer would prepare him for the grueling reality of being a medical student and then an intern. And the 24/7 interaction with people would help his bedside manner - or so his academic advisor claimed.

The man with the too blue eyes threw his rucksack down and fell onto the mattress like he owned the damn place. After taking a moment to settle he looked over at one of the six newcomers to the camp with a big smile on his face and a critical eye.

“Jim Kirk,” he said, sitting up to properly introduce himself, “but here they call me Captain Sunshine or just Captain.”

Len picked up his water bottle and unscrewed the top. “McCoy,” he paused to take a drink, “Leonard McCoy. I usually go by Len.” He chased his words with another gulp of water. The last thing he needed to was to start the summer off with dehydration or heat sickness.

“That’s not going to work at all.”

“Excuse me?” Len nearly choked on his water, plenty of people teased him about his name. It was admittedly a rather tease worthy name because Leonard Horatio McCoy was a mouthful, but no one did it so blatantly upon first introduction.

Jim just smiled bigger and clapped Len on his shoulder. “We’re going to have to get you a proper camp name.” And now that they were introduced Jim apparently saw it fit to drink right from Len’s water bottle without even first asking.

Yes, this kid was definitely trouble.

In the days that followed, Len learned that all of the returning staff and even some of the new arrivals had ridiculous camp names like Flyboy, Cupcake, Red, Po, Half-Pint, or Mash. Even the assumingly sane people in charge of this operation became Gopher and Buoy at the start of pre-camp, when really Len preferred them more as Christopher and Phillip. (Christine was actually Sistine, but her nickname made him smile because it was actually intelligent.)

It came as no surprise that Jim was responsible for at least half of the camp nicknames, and immediately called dibs on the honor of bestowing one Leonard McCoy with his. So, in spite Len outright refusing to call Jim anything other than Jim, which unfortunately only had the reverse effect. The too chipper adventure specialist just smiled each time Len said Jim like it was some damn inside joke between the two of them.

Despite his resistance, he did earn his nickname three days into pre-camp when. During a game of Taboo Len drew the card with the word ‘skeleton’ and started to effortlessly list off all of the bones in the human body. And that was it. From that night on Jim Kirk had christened him Bones.

Of course over the course of summer it had morphed into other versions like Crusher of Bones, Dem Bones, Bone Thugs, and during one of his nights off in mid July, Boner – but that was getting ahead of the story because at that moment he was not at all amused at his new name.

(Although there was definite amusement when at the start of camp in his session one tent was a miniature human skeleton from his secret buddy with a small note that read, “Just in case you need to study…or forget your name.”)

* * *

Luckily, the guarding bit was just about the only thing Len had down the first week of camp. He still mumbled through the camp songs that were sprinkled throughout the day, grimaced a bit too openly at camp names, and had no clue what half of the summer camp jargon meant. And then there were the children who would be cute at a first glance, but lacked true ability to listen and all too often forgot to move swim tags from one board to the other resulting in the looming misery of LBDs, which Len learned the hard way stood for Lost Bather Drills. And Lost Bather Drills meant he and the rest of the guards jumped in the lake and dove down to touch the bottom of every inch in the swimming area. This only seemed to happen on chilly mornings.

After the group of children (22 in total) jumped into the water, Len took his customary position on the right dock to watch the deep-deep end, sunglasses in place, bright red rescue tube resting just above his hips on his stomach. Lunch should have been in thirty minutes if not for the fact he had to guard the stupidity known as a floating lunch and would have to wait until later to eat something. It was only the fourth day of camp and already he was grumpy about this whole ordeal.

The only thing that could make this block any worse was damn Captain Sunshine himself toeing off his shoes on his beach.

“Don’t you have kids to strap into harnesses and throw off 30 foot platforms?” It wasn’t so much of a grumble as it was his normal means of speech.

And it didn’t faze Jim at all. No, Jim just walked down the dock, big damn smile in place. “Nah, I have paperwork this block.”

Behind his polarized sunglasses, Len was most certainly rolling his eyes. “Shouldn’t you actually be doing that then instead of loitering on my dock?”

That apparently was the funniest thing in the world to Jim Kirk as he doubled over in laughter. A reaction which if not for the kids he was supposed to counting and making sure they didn’t drown would have easily earned Jim a swift shove into the lake.

“I have _paperwork_ , Bones.” And he said those words like Len didn’t understand the English language, which only made him want to half drown Jim after shoving him into the lake. It took him a full thirty seconds to remember what paperwork meant in camp world where the campers weren’t supposed to know that the counselors had a social life or any sort of life away from their adoring little faces. “There it is.” He clapped Len on the shoulder, invading his personal space in the way that Jim always did. Seriously, one of these days Len was going to have a chat about personal boundaries with Jim. “Bit slow on the uptake, but I’d always knew you were pretty smart.”

Len stepped away from Jim’s grasp, turning his attention to the water to count the number of campers in his line of vision. The gesture clearly wasn’t overt enough because Jim just kept going on as if nothing had changed. “Anyway, I thought I would go for a swim.”

Once Len confirmed there were still indeed 22 swimmers in the water he glanced over at Jim again. “If you start to drown, I might just let you.”

“No,” he said shaking his head, “you really wouldn’t.” Jim didn’t linger for confirmation one way or the other before he broke two camp rules in one go by running the five feet to the end of the dock and jumping in. Now, a little bit wet and a whole lot grumpier, Len sighed and looked at his watch again. Only twenty minutes longer where he had to worry about thirteen year olds choking because someone thought eating and swimming at the same time was a good idea.

* * *

Camp life, Len was quickly learning, was nothing like the real world. In the real world meals were often something quick while he was studying or forgotten all together in place of a four hour lab. At Camp Enterprise meals were a big deal. There were handfuls of different graces that could be said before hand, hoppers to retrieve the food, foots to pour the water, and of course counselors as heads to keep some sense of order at the table.

Nineteen meals into the summer and Len had managed to avoid having to head. In fact when he could he slipped into Temple’s house and took a nap on the sick camper cot then grabbed whatever food was left while everyone was clearing the tables. So, when on the twentieth meal Len found himself in the unfortunate position of heading he barely knew where to begin.

“Bones, mind if I be your foot?” Of course Jim would ask a question that wasn’t really a question as he sat down in the foot’s seat with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. Len still was unsure how a man could be that happy all of the time. In fact, the only thing he was sure of was the fact that it made him down right uncomfortable.

Once Jim sat down, the table filled quickly because all of the girls loved Captain Sunshine, and surely the boys wanted to be him regardless of how they felt about Bones.

Halfway through dinner Len left the table to go check out the vegetarian option and failed to put anyone in charge. Captain Sunshine immediately led the table the wrong way around the dining hall screaming “we rebel.” The kids loved it. Len just felt like the biggest fool at that moment because sometimes it really felt like camp was one big joke to Jim, and more times than not Len was the punch line.

* * *

“This is a general camp announcement. Grumpy Guard Bones seems to have lost his great big camp smile. If found please return to the waterfront ASAP.”

* * *

It wasn’t until the third session that Len was graced with the pleasure of sharing a tent with the infamous Jim Kirk along with Pasha and Po. Of all of them, he knew that Jim was the one to worry about. Pasha might be an excitable Russian, but he knew better than to poke at Len, and Po’s desperate clinging to logic and mathematics as a means to explain the world at least led to a few interesting late night tent conversations.

The worry was made tangible in the morning when Jim and Len both had to get up at 6:00 a.m. to head down to Turtles and Polar Bears respectively. Len might not have been particularly awake, alive, or enthusiastic about the ordeal, but he had a system for the whole thing that at least made him tolerable.

Jim, on the other hand, was perhaps the single most annoying morning person that Len had the misfortune of having to deal with before he could have coffee with breakfast two full hours from now.

“Alright, I’ll bite, what has you smiling this morning?” He asked on their third morning trudging down from their unit.

“Just the thought that you are exactly like a polar bear.” Knowing better than to dignify that with a verbal response, Len just raised his eyebrow ridiculously high and looked over at Jim. There was more because there was always more. So Len waited. “Or at least the stuffed animal version of a polar bear. You act all grumpy and really don’t do well when someone wakes you from a nap, but you’re a total softie who loves to be hugged.”

The comparison was just ridiculous enough for Len to break his morning scowl a full ten minutes early to laugh. It was the sort of carefree laughter that he hadn’t really experienced in a long while. (And okay it might have been a little better when the sound of his laughter tugged at Jim’s smile in a way that made Len feel a bit strange.)

“Seriously, Bones.” Jim draped his arm over Len’s shoulder and Len found himself almost enjoying the invasion of his personal space. “I heard about what you did for Nikki who straight up bawled at the thought of getting into the water on Monday.”

Len nearly winced at the memory because that had been a particularly challenging morning. “It was nothing.” He shrugged, not really giving much thought to it. While he didn’t do well with children who whined or cried for attention, there was something different about crying out honestly that he just needed to fix.

“Bones, you invented the ‘turtle whistle’ to scare away the fish and other sea life that freaked her out.” Hearing Jim explain the turtle whistle, which was little more than him screaming under the water, made him both feel a bit foolish and like some Greek hero who was on his way to being an immortal. (And maybe in camp world he was because the turtle whistle was catching on.)

“Like I said, it was nothing. It was just something my mom did for me when I was little.” The words seemed to slip out before he could even fully process them and with them came memories he didn’t particularly want to deal with.

Sensing something was off, Jim shoulder checked Bones throwing him off his balance for a moment. “Still you’re totally gushy in the middle and don’t think I will ever let you live that down.” Before Len even had the chance to regain his balance Jim sprinted off to Little Field where the Turtles were gathering that morning.

* * *

**From the Good Job Jar** :

_Pasha, if Russians invented chess and checkers, why are you still unable to win at either game?_

_Bones is totally a Gusher’s Fruit Candy. Just thought you should know._

_Star, thanks for patiently answering all of my concerns this week. – Po_

_Still no luck on finding that camp smile. The search continues._

_Sistine, thanks for being my buddy during the checks (:_

* * *

“Len, you should come out to dinner with us,” said Star. Although during the week Star dutifully called him Bones, the moment the last camper left the grounds on Friday, she always addressed him by his real name.

Unable to think of a decent excuse quickly enough, Len decided that it was time for him to jump in and accept his camp life for what it was. Friday staff dinners at a real restaurant was a big part of that. And if he mentally called it his new polar bear mantra, well he certainly wasn’t going to tell Jim that and give him the satisfaction of being right.

When they arrived to TGIF Fridays and through luck or perhaps careful planning by other parties he ended up squeezed into the booth next to Jim, Len didn’t make a big fuss over it. At the very least it might actually give him a chance to start to understand the man who was a part time barnacle to his existence.

“You don’t like me very much.” It wasn’t exactly the way that Len might have chosen to start a conversation, but it seemed the normal for Jim and he would go with it.

“No, it’s just that…” Len paused trying to find the right words to diffuse the situation and fix the look of hurt that Jim wasn’t quite able to hide on his face. “There’s no way that anyone can be that on all of the time.”

Jim stared at him a long moment before he spoke again. “I just like camp,” he said as it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Summers at camp…they were just the best days of my life. I just want to give that to other kids, someplace to belong, someone who loves them for who they are.”

That night Len didn’t get all of the details, but he did start to piece together a story of a little boy who found home along the banks of Long Lake because he couldn't find it at home in the shadow of a father he never knew. Rather than make any of those observations outloud, Len simply settled on the easiest conclusion. “Maybe I’m not the only one who is gushy in the middle.”

* * *

“This is Bones looking for Captain Sunshine.”

“Captain Sunshine isn’t here right now, but this is his answering service, how can he help you?”

“Can you tell him that it’s not funny to use the noodles and other waterfront equipment to write out ‘always look on the bright side of life’ on the docks before six a.m.”

“I don’t know, I think he might say that’s a good lesson for you to learn.”

“Damn it, Jim.”

* * *

Jim and Len ended up bunking together again for session four. Only this time Star was their unit leader instead of Po, which came as a nice change of pace. Len really took to the woman who clearly didn’t put up with Jim’s crap, calling him Captain in the perfect sarcastic tone that just made Len all sorts of happy inside.

On Tuesday during rest hour, Len and Star sat perched on the edge of the men’s staff tent talking about anything and everything when the topic of Jim came up.

“Captain Sunshine and I are actually good friends.”

The admission of course earned her the most incredulous look from Len. “I wouldn’t have guessed it from the way you treat him.”

She shrugged, folding her legs underneath her to get more comfortable. “That’s just how we work. I keep his shenanigans in check and in doing so give him something safe to gently rebel against.”

Like all of the other revelations he had been having about Jim, Len kept this one to himself too because it made sense. In a way she was his harness, allowing him to jump from whatever height he wanted, sure that he wouldn’t come crashing down and hurt himself.

Before he could press for any more information she shifted, pulling a small folded piece of paper from her pocket. “I nearly forgot, there was a letter for you today.”

In the six weeks he had been at camp, Len had not received a single letter. He wasn't expecting any. So this was different. After handing off the letter in question, Star pushed to her feet to head back to her tent most likely for a much needed power nap during the last twenty minutes of rest hour. It left Len alone with his letter for a few precious moments.

The letter wasn’t actually a letter, but rather a folded piece of paper that held a friendship bracelet from his secret buddy. Len was examining the careful stitch work when Jim arrived back to the tent.

“Bones!” He slapped Len on the shoulder with a bit too much excitement. “You’re officially one of us now!”

Of course Jim had a half dozen friendship bracelets by now from campers and staff alike because the threaded accessories were some kind of camp social credit that only the best counselors received. And while he didn’t exactly want one, it did feel like he was finally being welcomed into the club, which earned Jim a glance at a rare Len smile.

Secret Buddies were supposed to be secret until the end of summer. However, the staff was small and everyone liked to talk. It was easy for Len to work out that Jim was his secret buddy. However, he decided that he wasn’t going to let Jim know he knew because he sort of liked Jim trying to go all ninja and leave him little gifts around camp.

* * *

_“Number One for Bones.”_

_“Bones here, what do you need?”_

_“We’re going to need you to cover Flyboy and Leprechaun’s unit tonight and reschedule your paperwork for tomorrow night.”_

_“Sure.”_

* * *

The change in his night off wasn’t exactly okay, but there wasn’t anything he could do, so there wasn’t any need to make a fuss about it. So, he got Tuesday off instead of Monday, while inconvenient it really wasn’t the end of the world. And if it also meant that he had the same night off as Jim, well it wasn’t like he planned it (or looked forward to it for that matter) – although he did make a point to grumble loudly about joining Captain Sunshine for dinner off camp.

When Len was asked to try something new for the summer, he never expected that would also mean starting to redefine who he was. Loathe as he might be to admit it, he knew that Jim was a large part in that process. There was something different about the younger man. Once Len got over the initial whiplash of meeting Jim Kirk, he found they fit together better than Len had with anyone else and that included Jocelyn, Nancy, or even Derek, all of who had loved in his own way.

The challenge was that Jim’s default mode was to flirt with anything that had a pulse. Len was still working toward his fluency in Kirk, so he couldn’t tell if the way Jim treated him was out of genuine interest or simply how he was trying to fold Len into his camp family.

When he hopped into Jim’s summer car that evening he hadn’t planned to seek an answer, but after dinner when Jim dragged him off to the ghost town day camp side of Long Lake he stumbled upon the opportune moment. Jim stood on the Whale Watch board in the low ropes course rattling on about how high ropes were infinitely better than baby challenge courses. Len knew he was going to launch into some epic speech that might end with Jim trying to convince him to give high ropes a go. Again. So, really leaning forward to press his sun burnt lips against Jim’s was as much self-preservation as it was out of want to see what it was like to kiss Jim Kirk.

The kiss was filled with nervous anticipation in the moment before Jim chose to become an active participant. Len was almost surprised to learn that Jim didn’t taste like the summer sun, or morning dew. No, he tasted just like any other person might, but he felt the rope calluses as Jim placed those hands on Len’s neck, smelt the familiar scent of sunblock, and saw that look in his eyes just before he closed them that Len still couldn’t quite name.

And around them, as their noses bumped and they tried to figure out how this might work, the world went on. The crickets chirped happily and somewhere across the lake the campers were being sung to sleep.

_Day is done, gone the sun, from the lakes, from the hills, from the skies. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh._

* * *

A note left in the staff lounge:

To whom it may concern:

Please send the Drama Llama away and save the summer lovin’ for the weekends. Not the boathouse.

\- Bones

* * *

Jim didn’t talk to Len for the rest of the week, or the week after that. Or maybe Len didn’t talk to Jim for the rest of the week. Either way they were both stubborn bastards who decided a cold war was better than facing what just happened. The worst part was that Len found himself missing Jim’s annoyance on the docks or messing with him in the dining hall. And really his whole week just felt off.

It didn’t help matters any when he walked in on Flyboy and Sistine making out in the boathouse in way that lacked any real subtlety. Worse was the fact that he was sure that Jim would be a total ninja when it came to clandestine meetings around camp while hundreds of campers were mulling around. Not that he was going to have the opportunity to find out at this point.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Len headed to the art barn in search of Red’s infinite relationship wisdom. However, he didn’t get to cash in on that because Pasha was already there crying on her shoulder about his girlfriend back home. And really that just made it feel like everyone at camp had someone, except for him.

* * *

_“Some tunes to get you through the week, all loaded on your iPod.”_

The mix included the obvious choices like “Bones” by The Killers, but also “Boys of Summer” by the Ataris and the Postal Service’s “Brand New Colony.”

* * *

Len would never admit that a playlist could suddenly solve whatever problems they had, but when the avoidance caused Captain Sunshine to become cloudy with a chance of rain, Len knew it was time for him to put an end to this idiocy once and for all. The plan was far from ingenious, but Len didn’t need for it to be brilliant, he just needed for it to work, which was why Saturday during breakfast Len put his plan into action. “Jim, can you give me a ride into town this morning?”

There was a full minute when he was sure that Jim was going to say no, but then he caught the subtle change in his eyes that told him without words what he wanted to hear. “I promise to only spend the morning at the library and we can go off on some adventure after lunch.”

And when Jim smiled big at that prospect, Len had a feeling that everything was going to be okay. “Fine, but you don’t get to complain about what I want to do.”

“As long as you let me get work done in the morning.”

“Scout's honor.” Len doubted that Jim was ever a Boy Scout, but it was hardly a point he wanted to waste his time debating.

Once they arrived at the library, Len secured a study room to start quizzing himself and Jim disappeared into the stacks. Every now and then Len allowed himself the curiosity of what Jim was up to serve as a brief study break, but he didn’t allow those thoughts to linger because he really did need to get through this chapter.

By the time lunch rolled around and Jim was nowhere to be found, Len shoved his books into his bag and set off in search of the man in question. After walking through what Len was sure had to be the entire library, he passed through the Young Adult room where Jim was talking to an eleven year old boy and his mother about The Giver. Len wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he just stood there watching until Jim realized he had been found out and excused himself. Before Len really had time to question it, Jim was on about some diner that hands down had the best burgers he had ever had in his life.

Much of the afternoon continued on in the same vein, the two of them simply falling into a routine without talking about what happened _that night_. It wasn’t until they were sitting in the camp parking lot, the sun setting around them did they really find a chance to talk.

“Bones, what does this mean?” His voice sounded so much younger as his hands motioned between the two of them to define the ‘this’ in his question.

Len shifted in the car so he was fully facing Jim. “If you want an answer you might actually try using real words." Jim glared at him and yeah he deserved it, but so did Jim.

“The part where you kissed me.” 

It shouldn’t have caused Len to smile, but Jim’s petulance did. “Well, normally when one person kisses another it means they like them.”

Instead of another glare that comment earned him a half hearted shoulder punch. “Don’t be an ass.”

“Don’t be a damn teenage girl, if I had any interest in those I would have gone for Baby Socks or Princess.” And for that seemed to be enough of an answer for Jim. If their first kiss had been a testing of the water, but their second was a cannon ball into the deep end.

* * *

_“All camp announcement: whoever had July 17 on the pool can collect their winnings after dinner.”_

* * *

After that things didn’t quite return to normal, but a new normal was established. By the staff meeting Sunday morning everyone knew what happened the day before despite best efforts to keep it quiet. Jim started back his routine of bothering Bones on the docks during his paperwork. Len started to think of himself as Bones. They both had to deal with the tension of sleeping a few feet away from each other each night and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

(Remember what the camp director said, no two campers in one bed, in one bed.)

And yes, camp songs started to quietly provide the background music for his life. It all would have been fine if not for the fact that Jim wormed his way into Bones’s canoe during the Thursday lake swim. They were on their way back to shore, most of the campers already out of the water and taking off their life jackets, when Jim started singing his own version of that other damn song.

“Just a boy and boy in a little canoe with the sun shining all around and they paddled and they paddled so you couldn’t even hear a sound.” Jim had a decent sort of singing voice when he wasn’t screaming on the singing steps. When he kept it low enough for only Bones to hear it might even be considered a turn on. “And they talked and the talked, ‘til the sun went in and he said, ‘you better kiss me or get out and swim.’ So what you going do in a little canoe with the sun shining all around?”

When Jim didn’t immediately go to the next line, Bones looked up, eyebrow raised and at the ready. He was still a bit slow on the uptake. Despite what Bones wanted to do there was only one thing he could do. “I’m not going to kiss you.”

Unfortunately that was exactly the response Jim was waiting for. Grin a mile wide he threw his paddle over the side of the canoe and used what had to be years of practice to tip the thing sending them both right into the water.

Bones really wanted to be mad, especially when Jim pulled them both under the water so that he could kiss Bones, but it was impossible. As much trouble as they were bound to get in when they finally made it back to shore, Bones was sure that this was exactly what summer should feel like.

* * *

_Bones – I’m calling you out on it, next in-service training you are getting up on that damn pamper poll._

* * *

The fact of the matter was that Jim could be a damn convincing bastard when he wanted to be. Bones would have liked to imagine that his resolve was a bit stronger, but there was something about those too blue eyes and that grin that made him waiver. However, he held onto some self-respect with the public reasoning that going through with it would at least get Jim to shut up about the pamper poll and seeing Bones in a harness.

Still, none of that really did anything to help deal with his fear of heights. That fear was very real when he started to climb up the ladder to get to the rungs in glorified telephone poll they call the pamper poll.

“I hate you so much right now.”

“No, you really don’t,” said Jim. His voice was full of laughter, easily the cat who got the cream because he was finally introducing Bones to his world. “Just pretend they are stairs and simply step up.”

Bones stopped moving completely and latched onto the pole that seemed to sway under his grasp. “Stairs aren’t 20 feet off the ground and they sure as hell don’t shake!” He squeezed his eyes shut trying to pretend his feet were flat on the ground, and that his life wasn’t depending on a double figure eight knot and the belaying skills of Captain Sunshine. (And no, it really didn’t matter to Bones that dozens of ten through fifteen year olds did this safely each week.)

“Look, I’ve done the math, Bones. It’s actually safer to climb up the pamper pole and jump off than it is to walk up the hill to the high ropes course.” There was no laughter in his voice now, it was all business. Bones imagined it was the voice he used to calm nervous fourth graders. “On the high ropes course you have a helmet to protect your head, the harness and rope system can support thousands of pounds of weight. Walking up here without any of that equipment, you could easily fall, hit your head and die.”

“Bit of advice, don’t mention dying.” Right now was Bones crouched on top of the pamper poll unwilling to stand up fully, and quite certain that he was going to black out from nerves alone.

“Just shut up and jump. I have you, Bones. I’d never let you get hurt.” Maybe if he wasn’t preoccupied with how many bones he could break if he did fall, Bones might have picked up the deeper meaning of Jim’s words.

He didn’t exactly jump off as much as he did fall. Bones swore up a storm as he went, but true to his word Jim caught him. Jim wasted no time lowering Bones back to the ground and getting him off the belay. Len was instantly grateful for the fact they decided to do this on a Sunday before the campers arrived and he could fall into Jim’s arms allowing himself to be grounded and comforted.

Jim made him feel safe. Circling his arms back around the other man, Bones hoped that Jim got something similar from him in return.

* * *

_Bo-ones, he fell in love with Cheetah_

_Bo-ones, he fell in love with Cheetah_

_Oh that’s good_

_Now’s Bones has a mate_

_And he better not be late_

_For such a great date_

* * *

Summer passed too quickly in a way that no other summer had before. While it was filled with all sorts of stolen moments, it was strange to think that in three days camp would be officially closed for the season and they would all scatter around the country and even the world back to their real lives.

Still, Bones was sure he wasn’t going to cry. He had said as much to Star while she was helping him with his tie for the Black Tie Dinner that was customary for the last week of camp. It was something all the campers went crazy over – although Bones didn’t really see the hype. To him it was just another camp dinner but this time he was expected to wear a jacket and tie in place of his normal guard shirt and shorts.

It was just another dinner until he saw Jim in a fitted black jacket and a cerulean blue tie that made his eyes pop. Then it was just damn foul play, especially when Number One paired the two of them to enter the dining hall together. During the dinner Bones remained steadfast in his belief that he wasn't going to cry tonight. After the last closing campfire there were only nineteen hours until the last camper left for the session (for the summer really), and he could touch Jim however he wanted and not have to worry about wandering campers.

For now it was just Bones half begrudgingly strutting around the dining hall, Jim in tow to campers taking dozens of pictures of their favorite staff member and their polar bear lifeguard. All of the staff managed to make it through the dinner and the thirty minutes they had to change out of their fancy dress and into something more appropriate for closing campfire.

Walking to the amphitheater for what surely be the last time, Bones felt the shift in the air.

They knew this was the last time and none of them were really paying much attention to the campers’ skits as each group went. Instead they broke off into little groups, sitting in half hugs, holding hands, and fighting off the inevitable.

Jim dropped onto the log next to Bones, leaning his body into him so that he could drop his voice low and still be heard. “I secured Lakeside Condos for us to spend the last two nights at camp together alone after the campers go home tomorrow. I figured we could push the cots together…”

Bones knew where this was going. “We’re not having sex in a tent,” he said perhaps a bit louder than he ought to.

However, the other man just smiled and bumped his shoulder. “No, we’re not. We’re having sex in the lake and then we’re cuddling in the tent.” All words Bones could have had at that moment got caught in his throat, but that was so like Jim. At the very least it kept him distracted enough until the skits were over and it was time to burn the wish sticks.

Bones’s wish was simple. He wished that the memories and connections he made this summer would carry with him into the school year and all of the years later. He had thought briefly about wishing for Jim, but that seemed like a bit too much.

The campers formed a big circle around them, the staff huddling close, and everyone knew what was coming. Once everyone settled and covered by the blessing of darkness, Gopher started his speech. “Whether this is your first summer here, or your twentieth, I want you all to know that you are welcome back anytime. We’re a family here and this camp is your home.” Len assumed it was the same speech he gave every year, but that didn’t make it any less sincere.

They sang “Taps,” “Linger,” and “The Circle Game” and not a one of them were dry eyed by the end. If anything Bones was grateful for the darkness to hide his tears, but he knew that he couldn’t hide it from Jim. But Jim was right there with him, crying and holding his hand like he was never going to let go.

In three days Bones was heading back to his apartment in Oxford, Mississippi to finish his last year of undergraduate and Jim would be off to Cambridge to finally start classes at MIT. It would be hundreds of miles between them and piles of coursework to keep them busy. The distractions might have been enough in the past, but this wasn’t something that Bones was willing to just let go off.

_As the years go by, remember this and sigh. This is goodnight and not good bye._

* * *

His last gift from his secret buddy wasn’t really a gift for him. Instead it was a plane ticket from Oxford, Mississippi to Boston, Massachusetts for James Kirk with a little note that read: “I figured this way I could spend the rest of summer helping you brush up on your anatomy. And give you further incentive to apply to Harvard Medical.”

* * *

For Captain Sunshine and Bones, summers were now times that change you forever. They were days of stolen kisses by the lake, facing your fears head on, and full of people you were never going to let go of.


End file.
